


The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

by Livelovelupin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, First time at Hogwarts, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, Magical!AU, Sirius Black Lives, Wolfstar (eventually)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:02:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22174498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Livelovelupin/pseuds/Livelovelupin
Summary: (A Harry Potter magical!au set the summer before Harry’s 6th year. Sirius Black is alive and so was Regulus Black, once upon a not that long ago time. I hope you enjoy!)
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Male Character(s), Fleur Delacour/Nymphadora Tonks, Ginny Weasley/Original Male Character(s), Harry Potter/Original Male Character(s), Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Pansy Parkinson/Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson/Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	1. Everything We Do Not Know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw vivid descriptions of a panic attack.

_**Present day. August 1 st, 1996. Around sunrise** _

__

There was a huge white dog.

As these things usually go, that was rather underwhelming. Too underwhelming for Sirius.

Sirius Black offered the house that he was born in (and subsequently ran away from in his later years) to be the Order of the Phoenix’s headquarters. Alastor Moody, of course, had turned that offer down the moment he’d heard it, and had been turning it down ever since. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and much to Moody’s dismay and Sirius’ opposite-of-dismay, 12 Grimmauld Place was the only appropriate place to stay in after the battle in the department of mysteries.

(Which was just the very definition of a failure, if Sirius was being honest.)

Sirius himself hadn’t stepped foot inside the house ever since stepping outside for the first time in 12 years, which was first due to trying to catch Peter, then there was the Triwizard tournament mess and staying with Remus (which, in relation to the staying with Remus part, had also been the very definition of a failure). Sirius could have stayed during Harry’s fifth year, but, if he was being honest with himself, he was avoiding it as much he could.

He was going to sell it, but he didn’t, and now the Order needed it. Sirius Black stepped foot inside his home, or what should have been his home, anyway, for the first time in more than 15 years, and was feeling way too many things at once.

He wasn’t alone, though, which made it better, or worse; maybe a tiny bit of both. It was Sirius, Molly, Moody, Tonks, and Harry, Hermione, Ron. Remus hadn’t come because it was a certain day in the lunar calendar that Sirius despised. Remus couldn’t make it because he was too busy clawing at his own skin, and not letting Sirius help him because _It’s been a very long time, Sirius…_

Sirius wanted to scream and scream and scream, because full moons were supposed to be better with Sirius out and back in Remus’ life, but they weren’t. Sirius tried to understand where Remus was coming from and he simply couldn’t, which made him a mix of angry and sad that was probably best summarized as being lethal, reckless, and absolutely miserable.

That was for another time. What was on Sirius’ mind, then, was how the house looked very much not-deserted, as in, there definitely had been someone in there in the last 12 to 72 hours. The first room they all went to was the kitchen, which, first of all, looked nothing like Sirius remembered, and second of all, had a kettle on the stove and some dishes in the sink and bottled food in the pantries and every sign that there definitely had been someone living there.

Nobody had said a word, but everyone had their wands out. Moody was talking in hushed whispers to everyone around, giving instructions about who had to search and clear where, when there was a crashing sound from somewhere in the house. Sirius guessed that it was coming from the basement, and with some quick thinking that he would come to be rather proud of in the future, cast a Disillusionment Charm on everyone in that kitchen, including himself. No one dared to speak, and Moody’s eye was spinning around so frantically Sirius couldn’t look at it too long. Tonks stepped in front of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and a beat, two, three beats of silence passed before the door leading to the basement opened.

And it was a huge dog with dirty white-almost-grey fur. And it was underwhelming. Moody looked murderous and Molly let out a huge sigh of what Sirius assumed was relief; only problem was, that seemed to have grabbed the dog’s attention. It turned its head in their general direction and glared. The first thought Sirius had was _Animagus_ , the second one being, _Moody’s eye will explode._

 _The_ dog stayed still for moments, before heading towards them. It had almost crashed into Tonks when _“Narcissa!”_ being shouted from the basement seemed to interest it more. It instead headed towards a drawer, and opened it, taking out a first-aid kit. Sirius noticed that the dog was hurt, on its side, where the white fur was colored deep red and matted. The dog held the kit in its mouth and headed to the stairs it had just come up, looking rather happy, with a skip-in-its-step and all.

No one said anything, at least at first. Sirius thought they didn’t know what to do. Moody was whispering something to Molly, and Tonks was talking to Hermione, answering a question. Sirius realized then that there were two people in that house; the person the voice belonged to, and the dog Sirius knew was an Animagus.

“I don’t remember you mentioning anything about the lovely residents, Sirius!” Moody whispered angrily, shaking his head. “When did you think of telling us, Black?”

“I, well. I didn’t know,” Sirius said, feeling rather dumb. Why hadn’t the thought of someone being there occur to him?

“Were they here the last time you came, Sirius?” asked Harry, who looked so very much like James at that moment, it made Sirius smile.

 _No_ , Sirius thought. The last time Sirius came, his mother, father, and Regulus were the lovely residents. He didn’t think mentioning that, while Moody was there, looking all but murderous, was the best course of action. Not at all.

“Well, you see, last time I—” Sirius stopped talking when footsteps could be heard on the staircase leading to the second floor. He could almost feel everyone around him instantly become tense. At the end of the spiral staircase Sirius got scolded for sliding down one thousand and one times, there was a girl holding up her shirt to reveal a bloodied torso. There were three horizontal gashes almost pulsing. Sirius cringed; it looked painful. The girl had long, bushy, black hair with lilac-colored tips. Sirius couldn’t really see her face, because she was looking down bandaging her torso. She was walking while wrapping the white bandage, and Sirius saw her wincing.

She made sure the bandage was secure enough and let down her shirt. She trotted to the kitchen, sitting on the ceramic table in the middle, humming something. She didn’t seem too bothered by almost being decapitated, and didn’t seem to notice the other seven people that were invisible, sure, but not silenced nor undetectable in the same kitchen. Sirius had never been aware of his own breathing as much.

Sirius was just about to question why she would just sit there, on a kitchen table, her legs dangling and not touching the floor when the basement door once again opened, and this time a boy came out. Short Black hair and about the same height as the girl. He stood in front of the girl, who was grinning tiredly

“Success?” the boy questioned, sounding tired.

“You bet your stupid ass, Sire,” The girl replied, eyes softening. “Go sleep.”

“Go sleep yourself.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Don’t be stupid, you’re already half-asleep, I can tell, believe it or not—” the boy scoffed, cutting her off. She continued nonetheless, “ _Go._ I am gonna sleep, too. I am. Just want to make some tea to lull me to deep and peaceful slumber...”

The boy snorted and shook his head. “Please, don’t stay up, okay?”

The girl nodded once more, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Success,” she whispered.

The boy headed towards the stairs, but stopped and turned around to face her once again. “Scorp is okay?”

“Scorp is sublime,” the girl said dramatically. “Seriously, he’s sleeping like the dead, didn’t even realize we apparated. Just go!”

“G’night,” the boy said, halfway up the stairs, before disappearing out of sight.

“Good night,” The girl echoed, even though no one was there, really. And the sun was already up in the sky; sunrise was about thirty minutes ago.

Sirius watched the whole interaction intently, trying to make sense of what was unfolding in front of him. Up until then, there were three people whom he did not know about in that house: The boy, the girl, and ‘Scorp’, who could honestly be their pet fish, for all he knew. Maybe the white dog? Scorp the Animagus? Maybe.

(Sirius was sure the dog had been an Animagus. He sensed it, really, or that was what he told himself, at least. For now, nothing really suggested that the dog was, in fact, an Animagus (unless you wanted to count the first-aid incident, but it could just be a very well-trained dog). There was, however, nothing that suggested that the dog was not an Animagus, and Sirius could gamble on that, with himself, anyway. Prove himself right, or wrong, depending on what self. Um).

The girl stayed still for a moment, staring into what she probably thought was empty space, but was, in fact, where Tonks and Harry, Hermione, Ron were standing. She hopped off the table and headed toward them. Tonks quickly urged the three teenagers across the room, so that they were now near the table and the girl stood where they did moments before.

It was quite comical, really, the cat-mouse thing going on. Sirius found it comical, at least, and so did Harry, from what Sirius could tell. He was smiling, and his eyes were a little wide. Sirius caught his eye and winked, causing Harry’s smile to grow bigger. Moody’s ears were almost letting out steam, from what Sirius could see from the corner of his eye.

Oh, well.

The girl opened a cabinet and took out a glass of water. She left the kitchen after filling it (which resulted in another cat-mouse situation, except that time it involved Moody. Fun) and Sirius saw her sitting on the sofa in the next room.

Sirius focused on Moody, who said nothing, for quite a while. He took out his wand after deliberating, and ushered Tonks to follow him, and waved his wand between the both of them. They became visible at once, while all other people in the kitchen were very much still not.

Sirius scowled. Moody didn’t trust his judgment and treated him like he was inferior in the order. It made Sirius’ blood boil; Sirius was as good as any of them, and being babied around was not going to end well.

Sirius took a breath, trying to calm down. It wasn’t like he needed validation from Moody, and it wasn’t like Tonks was better than him in any way (except maybe more mentally stable. Sirius was more self-aware than people gave him credit for.) If Moody wanted to pretend that Sirius was not an Order member, then fine. He could do that.

Yes.

Tonks and Moody slowly went out the kitchen to where the girl sat, and Sirius, though still invisible, followed suit. Molly was just beginning to call him off for doing something ‘stupid’ when he exited the kitchen. No more than three seconds passed before all who were in the kitchen (Molly, HarryHermioneRon) were now in the living room.

The girl was sitting on the couch, not the one that was there when this place had been Sirius’ ‘home’, but a different one, that looked more worn out (seeing as people were presumably permitted to sit on it) and more comfortable, with pillows and a blanket thrown on it. The room was silent, except the song humming from the girl. She looked tired. She had taken a book that was on the table in front of her and started reading it.

Moody ushered to Tonks once again, and said something in a hushed whisper. At once, both order members appeared in front of the girl with a distinguishable ‘pop’. The girl was visibly startled; the book she was reading fell instantly and her body jerked. She seemed to get over it pretty quickly, though. She rose to her feet, wand in hand. Sirius didn’t see her taking out her wand. She was staring at Tonks and Moody, with her wand held out, almost mirroring the way Moody held his wand, ready to attack and cast spell after spell after spell. Tonks held her wand more carelessly, without the posture and the almost deadly threat that was radiating from both Moody and the girl.

The girl glared at the both of them, eyes almost challenging. She pointed her wand from one collar bone to another, before holding it out in front of her once again.

“Who are you?” The girl asked, voice calm. She didn’t speak in the way Sirius assumed she would; the words were spoken rather slowly and with an accent Sirius couldn’t recognize.

Moody sneered. “We could ask you the same question!”

“Actually,” the girl started, over-pronouncing the world, “you really could not. What are you doing in my house?”

Moody’s face was blank, and Tonks looked confused. She cleared her throat. “This is my aunt’s house.”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “Your aunt?”

Tonks hesitantly nodded, as if not sure what to do.

“Walburga Black was your aunt?”

Tonks hesitated. “Well, technically, she was my mother’s aunt on her mother’s side, which makes her—”

“Your mother’s aun— you’re a Black?” the girl asked, eyes confused.

“Well, half, yes, but—”

“Are you a pure-blood obsessed lunatic?”

Tonks blinked. “No, of course not. I—”

The girl eyed Tonks skeptically, as if she couldn’t believe her. She was silent for a moment before her eyes widened. “You’re Andromeda’s daughter! She was the one who— wait, you are her daughter, right?”

Tonks just stared at the girl, silent. Sirius didn’t understand how this girl knew so much about Tonks and her family. Maybe from the tapestry? She lived in the house, so she probably saw it.

Moody must’ve gotten fed up with everything that was happening. A flash of red light, a hex, blasted from the end of his wand in the girl’s direction. It didn’t hit the girl, though, it hit something invisible in front of her and rebounded on Mad-Eye himself, making him fall on the table he was standing in front of.

Tonks’ eyes went twice as big, and Sirius heard a surprised sound leaving Molly. Tonks hurried to check on Moody, and the girl watched both of them, expression almost amused.

 _A protection spell,_ Sirius thought, and was instantly impressed. She cast it wordlessly with the collar bone tapping. _Well, very quick thinking, indeed._

Moody stood up with Tonks helping him keep his balance. He looked more surprised than anything else. “Who are you?”

“You tell me,” the girl retorted, and Moody let out a sigh.

“We are aurors. We were sent to inspect this place because someone reported unusual magical activity,” Moody lied. He was a very good liar.

“I do not really believe that, sir,” The girl mocked, shaking her head. She then focused on Tonks. “Are you?”

Tonks stayed still for a moment, before nodding. The girl lowered her wand, though she didn’t make any effort to remove the protection charm. Smart.

“My dad said your mother was his favorite. Well, and her sister, but he did like—”

“Who is your dad?” Tonks asked, sounding confused.

“I don’t think I want to tell you that, unless you tell me who you are. Are you death eaters?”

“No.”

“Do you support Voldemort and or any of his stupid ideas?”

“No.”

“Do you think that house elves deserve better treatment from wizards and witches alike?”

Tonks evidently didn’t expect that question. “Sure,” she answered hesitantly. Sirius glanced toward Hermione and saw her beaming.

The girl shook her head. “I still don’t know who you are!”

“We are here,” Mad- eye began, sounding annoyed but defeated, “on behalf of a highly secret organization that solely aims to defeat the dark lord through—”

The girl interrupted him. “You mean the Order of The Phoenix?”

“How, in the six dimensions of hell, do you know _that_?” Tonks asked.

“I don’t think I want to tell you that, again.” The girl eyed Mad-Eye for a second, before opening her mouth slightly. “You’re Alastor Moody!” The girl exclaimed, sounding a mix of excited and surprised. “You’re the auror who put Bellatrix Lestrange in Azkaban. Well, her and her husband and—”

Moody grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m gonna kill you, Sirius.”

“What did you just say?” The girl asked, excitement gone and eyes instantly turning hard. She held out her wand once again, and her posture stiffened. It was an instant change in demeanor that was unexpected, to say the least. Sirius held out his wand. Better safe and all that.

“I just said, that I was going to murder Sirius Black the very first chance I get, painfully and slowly, for being so irresponsible and irrational, putting not only himself but the rest of—” Moody said, in an awfully slow tone, as if talking to a child.

“No, you will not! What are you on about for Salazar’s sake?”

Moody frowned, as did Sirius. This girl knew him as well. How? She also just swore by Salazar. Sirius felt betrayed.

No one said anything, up until Tonks cleared her throat. “You know about Sirius?”

“What do you mean I know about Sirius, of course I do!”

“And that he’s innocent?”

The girl furrowed her eyebrows, muttering to herself. She remained oblivious about the rest of the people in the room, and was pacing back and forth in front of Moody and Tonks, looking distressed. Sirius thought that the whole ordeal was not what was supposed to happen. Couldn’t the universe give Sirius Black a break? Just for once; a week where everything just went as planned. Hell, at that point, Sirius would settle for a day, or even five hours. _Anything._

That was, however, not how the universe worked. She didn’t take into consideration everything that happened in the tragedy that was Sirius Black’s life when she piled more misery and heartbreak and fucking strangers living in his house on his shoulders.

The only time that the universe was kind to the tortured soul of Sirius Black was the years he had spent at Hogwarts. Those seven years were the best thing that had ever happened to him. The universe was making up for the unbelievably bad childhood. Ever since graduating, though, the universe almost took pleasure in fucking over Sirius Black.

Which was great, honestly.

Sirius’ train of thought was interrupted when the girl started laughing, so suddenly going from distressed to hysterical it made Sirius dizzy. It was not an amused chuckle or sarcastic snort, but full-fledged laughter that made her entire body shake. She was holding her wand to her side limply, shoulders no longer stiff. Tonks looked like she couldn’t believe what was happening, and Mad-Eye’s face was still blank, though his charmed eye was staring right at Sirius.

The girl settled down, taking a few deep breaths and wiping beneath her eyes where a few tears had left. She took a deep breath. “We’re talking about Azkaban-escapee Sirius Black. I thought we were talking about— oh, never mind that, it doesn’t matter.” She shook her head, grinning creepily. “He is innocent?”

Tonks nodded.

“Oh, by Salazar, what a great plot twist,” the girl shook her head. “I never believed him, you know. I always thought he just couldn’t get himself to face the truth. Turns out, he was right. Probably saying ‘I told you so’ from the grave right now.”

Tonks was nodding along with everything the girl was saying. “Oh. Who’s he, again?”

The girl stayed silent for a moment, before deciding to speak. “My father.”

Tonks bit her lip. “I’m sorry he passed away.”

“Thank you,” the girl said, before sitting on the couch and resting her wand on the table in front of her. She ushered to Tonks and Mad-Eye to sit, which they eventually did.

“Narcissa. I’m Narcissa. I’ve lived here for a long time,” the girl said, biting her lip, “You see—”

“Idiotic!” Mad-Eye bellowed, shaking his head furiously. “You shouldn’t just tell us that. Are you stupid? We could be imposters or liars or death eaters. How do you know we’re not death eaters, huh? This is what gets people into trouble; nine out of ten times it’s moronic, blind trust. You don’t know us, girl! ‘tis why I always say, CONSTANT VIGILANCE! You must always be skeptical unless proven wrong!”

Narcissa’s mouth was open, just a little bit, not expecting the outburst. She raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around? As long as someone gives you no reason to suspect them, why would you—”

“Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong!”

“Well, I did put up a shield charm, did I not? And besides, I know about the order, and how secret it is. I trust you.”

“How is it that you know about the order, then?” Tonks asked.

“My father.”

“Who is who, again?” Mad-Eye asked, almost growling.

“I’m not sure I want to say… Y’know, vigilance and such. You can never be too skeptical…” Narcissa trailed off, and Moody almost looked as murderous as he did when they first came in and discovered the people living there. Narcissa raised her hands in defense, “Okay, okay! You probably won’t believe me, though. Everyone thought he was dead, which, of course, is true now, but wasn’t true back then. He was after—”

“Could you maybe tell us who he was, first?” Tonks asked, hesitantly.

“Regulus Black,” Narcissa said, “He was—” Narcissa was cut off by a second ‘pop’; this time, Sirius was in front of her, eyes wide and wand out.

Narcissa didn’t even flinch. “I don’t know why I’m not surprised…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, love. Don’t mean to intrude or anything…” Sirius said, voice calm, almost eerie. “Who’d you say your father was again?”

Narcissa stood up. “Regulus Black, son of—” She began, sarcastically. She stopped, though, when a wand pointed at her neck.

 _Protection charm taken off, then. Stupid,_ Sirius thought. “Don’t lie!”

“Sirius! Stop!” Tonks said, voice not nearly as steady as it was moments before. She stood up from where she was sitting as well, helping Moody stand on his feet.

“No!” Sirius screamed, now seeing red. He faced Tonks. “No! She can’t just stay in _my house_ , and start spewing lies about _my brother!”_ he faced Narcissa once again. “Don’t you dare lie! Tell us who you are.” His wand still pointed at her neck, and she, out of all the things to do, grinned.

“Sirius! She’s a child, stop this instant,” Mad-Eye warned, voice, quite frankly, terrifying. Sirius didn’t care, though. He felt fire run through his veins. He couldn’t believe she found the situation amusing.

“Why, you little—” Sirius was interrupted by Narcissa softly chuckling.

“It really is a family thing,” Narcissa said, shaking her hand. “Who knew that insanity was hereditary. I mean, hard luck for us, right? A few buttons must’ve gone loose along the way. Isn’t—”

“Expelliarmus!” was shouted, and Sirius was suddenly wandless. He looked at his wand, which was now halfway across the room, then at Narcissa, whose wand was on the table, untouched. Instead, the person who disarmed him was standing at the bottom of the staircase, looking tired and breathing heavily. It was the boy from the kitchen, earlier. He kept his eyes on Sirius as he progressed forward, stopping when he was just beside Narcissa, his wand still held out.

“Are you okay?” he asked Narcissa, though his eyes were still fixated on Sirius. It felt like the whole world’s eyes were on Sirius, glares going through flesh and skin and bone. Sirius felt like he was suffocating.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Narcissa said, carelessly. “You are not going to believe this!”

The boy frowned, finally looking at her. “What?”

“Oh my God, Sirius!” Narcissa squealed, almost jumping up and down. “You are not going to believe this, here. Sirius—” Narcissa grabbed the boy’s wrist and yanked it, making him stand right in front of still-very-much-speechless Sirius. Narcissa let go of the boy’s wrist and pointed at Sirius “Ahem, meet Sirius! And Sirius—” she shifted her focus on Sirius now, talking to him, “meet Sirius! Sirius Regulus!” she exclaimed as she pointed to the boy.

The boy’s frown deepened, only for a second, though, before his eyes widened. “No way!”

“Yes, no way! I know. And he’s innocent!” Narcissa said, still grinning as if there were no tomorrow.

The tension that Sirius (Orion) felt around him in that living room was almost too much. It was making his head spin and his body cold-warm, where he was breaking in sweat and shivering with teeth chattering at the same time. It felt like his body was going to betray him any second. Sirius tried to even his breath, anchor himself, but he couldn’t. He tried again and realized it was futile. Tonks was staring at him, eyes almost understanding. Moody’s were pitiful, which was not a good look at him, whatsoever. Sirius would’ve rathered him look murderous. And Harry—

 _Harry!_ Sirius thought, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Harry was there. He had seen Sirius, screaming and shouting and threatening, again. He had seen him lose it, again. Sirius felt a cold wave of hot shame settling over him, making his chest tight and—

For the third time that early morning, a ‘pop’ signaling that someone had apparated rang through that living room. Sirius opened his eyes.

“I’m so sorry if I’m late,” Remus Lupin said, voice tired and rough. He was fixing the hem of his pants. “I got here as soon as I—” he cut himself off when he looked up from the ground. His eyes took in the scene in front of him; Narcissa and Sirius Regulus (whose wand was no longer held out) standing very close to Sirius. Tonks standing not far behind, with Moody leaning on her, the effects of his recent curse not truly gone, yet. As far as Remus knew, they were the only people in the room. He cleared his voice. “Is everything okay?”

Sirius knew that he was tired. The full moon had only set very recently. Remus must’ve been exhausted. There were dark circles under his eyes, and a bandage on his wrist, pocking from under his shirt. Another one could be seen from where he was fixing his pants near his ankle earlier. A band-aid right on the edge of his mouth. Sirius knew that there were way more that he just couldn’t see.

Remus eyes locked with Sirius’, and Sirius couldn’t do it. He looked away instantly, and he instead locked eyes with Narcissa. Narcissa’s huge, grey eyes. His Grey eyes. That wasn’t what he saw, though. Sirius saw his younger brother’s eyes. The younger brother that he couldn’t save, the one he left behind.

Sirius’ head felt like it got split in half. He put his hand on his forehead, trying to make the pounding stop. It got worse, and Sirius’ legs betrayed him, making him fall backwards right into a coffee table with books on top. The world was blurry and spinning and Sirius couldn’t take in a breath, couldn’t stand still, couldn’t think. His world was slowly shutting in on itself. He felt like he was disappearing.

A hand around his waist made him regain some of his balance. It was Remus, because it was always Remus, even when it shouldn’t be.

“Hey, Sirius,” Remus whispered, “It’s okay. I’m going to apparate now. We’ll come back, okay?”

Sirius couldn’t really argue, and he didn’t want to. He nodded, and he felt himself being swept away.

_**…** _

_**Dec 2 nd, 1980. Early hours of the day, late hours of the night.** _

__

“Regulus, I can’t do it. _Regulus,_ ” Elizabeth breathed, tears falling from her eyes onto her cheeks. “I can’t, Regulus.”

Regulus shook his head, stroking her cheek. “Of course you can, love. The doctor says they’re almost here.”

“But I can’t. I—Regulus, it hurts. So much. Regulus! I can’t do this. There are three of them, Regulus. How am I supposed to care for three of the— Ah! Regulus, _I can’t.”_

“I know it hurts, love. I’m sorry. How about now, we focus on getting them here. We’ll care for them, together, Liz. Always.” Regulus pushed Elizabeth’s hair back, trying to comfort her. The doctor should be with them at any moment. Regulus took a hair tie from his wrist and put Elizabeth’s hair in an admirable bun. Admirable for the situation they were in, at least. Regulus felt light-headed, and he definitely wasn’t the one giving birth. “They’ll be fine, love.

“They could be magic,” Elizabeth sobbed. “I’m not magic. How am I supposed to deal with that? Oh, Regulus…”

“That’s true,” Regulus said, massaging Elizabeth’s scalp, “They could be magic. They also could be not-magic. It doesn’t matter, love. We’re together, okay? Whatever they are or aren’t, we’ll figure them out. Okay?”

Elizabeth was looking at him intently, eyes glossed over. “You know magic. You’d deal with them?”

“Of course, love.”

“That’s good…” Elizabeth trailed off, breath slowing down. “We’re having babies!”

Regulus chuckled at the changed demeanor, so sudden. His heart was full. “We are, Liz.”

“I love you, Reg. Always.”

“love you, too, love. I love you.” Regulus squeezed Elizabeth’s hand, and she squeezed his.

The room’s door opened, and the doctor came in. She smiled at them. “Are we ready?”

Elizabeth looked at Regulus and smiled. “We are. We were just—ah!” Elizabeth let out another muffled scream, eyes closed. She clenched her teeth. “ _So so ready.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was enjoyable! Next part will be up soon, hopefully. This is my first chaptered fic and I am so excited! I hope you have a good and wonderful day, and I cannot thank you enough for checking this out. Until next time. Xx


	2. Everything We Are Trying To Understand

**Present Day. August 1st, 1996, around sunrise.**

Narcissa Elizabeth Black hadn’t felt as weightless as she did then in a fucking while.

Truth be told, the events of that damned barely morning weren’t something that was supposed to bring such joy, but Narcissa couldn’t bring herself to care.

Everyone was silent around her; Nymphadora helping Mad-Eye stay on his feet, and her brother looking around the room as if not sure what had just happened, with the table turning over and Sirius and the stranger apparating in the blink of an eye. Narcissa couldn’t even begin to think where they could’ve gone. She was still smiling, though. Smiling so much it was actually starting to hurt.

She had just met Sirius. _The Sirius._ Sirius, who she knew so much about from her father. He talked about him all the time; he talked about the things they got up to in Grimmauld Place when they were younger, and how devastated he was when Sirius was put on Gryffindor; how they grew apart, how he always admired Sirius and wished he could be as brave. Her father loved his brother, and it showed, through everything he did and all that he stood for.

(In later years, at least. When he defied the dark lord and shifted his allegiance. Her father always said that, had it not been for Sirius doing everything that he did, right from that first act of rebellion not being sorted into Slytherin, Regulus would have never had the courage to question what he stood for and come to his own opinions and his own way of seeing the world around him. His way, not his parents' or some of his friends', but his. Sirius paved the road for him, gave him the lantern, was leading the way, whatever.)

And Narcissa met him, and it was glorious. She missed her father daily, grieved him still. The grief that she carried in her heart wasn’t the same grief that she had held when her father first passed away, but a muted version of that, watered down, almost. When her father died, Narcissa’s world lost its momentum; it turned upside down and it felt like it would never be the same, ever again. But that wasn’t true; it recalibrated and soon enough, she could eat and sleep and laugh and be happy and it was normal. Her world didn’t stop when her father died, because worlds didn’t just stop for one person. What happened was, she had grief in her that felt like it would eat her alive one day, and it didn’t. That grief never went away, though, and she didn’t think that it ever would. She missed her father, wished that she could see him and talk to him and even fight with him, but she couldn’t, and although most days the simple fact that her father was dead was just that, other days she felt like it was suffocating her.

In that living room, Narcissa met Sirius, and she wanted to hug him. To tell him all the things that her father wished he could. Narcissa looked at Sirius (Orion), and the only thing that she saw was her father. They didn’t necessarily look _exactly_ like each other; Regulus’ features were sharper and much more refined, and his hair was shorter than Sirius’, as well. Sirius slouched the tiniest bit when he stood and Regulus didn’t; Sirius was taller, he had bigger eyes and a beard. But Narcissa looked in Sirius’ eyes, and the shade of grey was identical to her own, identical to her father’s. Narcissa looked in his eyes and she felt safe, which was something she hadn’t felt, truly, anyway, since her dad had died.

Sirius Regulus cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes. “I’m not sure I’m awake enough for this.

“How can you not be, Sirius? This is great!”

“It’s good, I guess,” Sirius drawled, biting back a smile, “I’m not named after a murderous traitor.”

Narcissa rolled her eyes. She was about to remind Sirius that that was what their father had said for the longest time, but Sirius didn’t listen, neither did Narcissa (which, now, she did regret). The only person who believed their father was Scorpius, which was expected; he was fucking Scorpius. A cough, however, made her shake her head and she was reminded that she and her brother weren’t the only people in that room. She turned to Nymphadora and smiled.

“Please, sit down. Tea?” Narcissa offered.

Nymphadora gave them a smile that looked forced, but she complied, anyway, leading Mad-Eye and herself to the couch. She looked weary, and so did Mad-Eye. They weren’t, from what Narcissa could see, having a good day. Narcissa tried to wear a neutral expression on her face, and git rid of the grin that was taking over half her face, in order not to look insensitive to the obviously shit morning that they were having. She couldn’t, and after a few moments of thought, decided that it didn’t matter; she was allowed to show happiness. Whatever. Emotions and ‘being considerate’ weren’t her thing, anyway. They were Scorp’s. That was how it had always been.

“Nymphadora, is it?” Narcissa was pretty sure that was her name, from the tapestry. Nymphadora scrunched up her nose.

“Actually, Tonks is fine.”

“So, Tonks,” Narcissa started, smiling. It had just occurred to her that they were related, her and Tonks. It was sort of exhilarating, meeting so many people that she had only ever heard about before. She smiled a little bigger. “How do you take your tea?”

“Two sugars and no milk… You don’t have to, honestly. I think—"

Narcissa dismissed her. She turned her attention to Moody. She raised her eyebrow.

“Milk, no sugar,” Moody sighed.

Narcissa nodded and gave Sirius a look. _Come with me._ Sirius understood, of course he did. Narcissa told Tonks and Moody to wait just a second before leading the way, Sirius Regulus close behind her. Except, she never really made it into the kitchen; She crashed into something hard, and toppled to the ground. Only, there were two thuds; hers, and the thing—no, the person that she toppled into.

Considering everything that had happened in the last, what, thirty minutes? Crashing into invisible strangers really wasn’t that strange.

Narcissa got up, and held Tonk’s gaze, giving her a _really?_ look. Tonks shook her head and waved her wand. At once, four people appeared; a red-haired woman, what seemed to be her son, with the same fire-y red hair. He was tall and lanky, and apparently the person Narcissa ran head-first into. There was a girl with bushy brown hair and wide brown eyes, and a boy with messy, curly hair and green eyes, with a scar the shape of a lightning bo—

Oh. _Oh oh oh oh._

Sirius Regulus was also staring at the scar. Narcissa stepped on his foot discreetly. _Don’t make a scene._

That, however, must’ve gotten lost on him. “You’re the boy who lived!”

Narcissa cringed, as did the boy—Harry. Everyone knew who Harry Potter was.

“Um,” Harry breathed, with seemingly no idea what to say. Narcissa stepped on Sirius’ foot again, just for good measure.

“I do hope that there is no one else—” Narcissa looked around, “— is there?” She drawled.

“No, dear,” The red-haired woman said. “We are very sorry, dear...”

“Don’t be!” Narcissa said, even more excited. “How do you take your tea? Oh, and please sit down…”

The red-haired woman looked constipated. She shook her head. “No need to, dear.”

“Oh, it’s nothing! I’m Narcissa, and this is Sirius,” Narcissa introduced, even though they probably already knew. Sirius, beside her, looked dazed. He was in shock, maybe. No one said anything, up until the brown-haired girl cleared her throat. She smiled at them, looking much more sincere.

“I’m Hermione. This is Ron, Molly, and Harry, who I think you already knew,” she trailed off, as if not sure what to say next. “I think, two sugars no milk, all of us?”

No one objected, and Narcissa figured that she would be there a while if she kept waiting for someone to say something. She led the group to sit where Tonks and Mad-Eye were and told them to wait a second. She started walking to the kitchen, and Sirius made no indication that he wanted to follow. She glared at him for a second too long before he finally got it, and trailed behind her.

When they were alone, Narcissa put up a silencing charm. “Get it out.”

“Get what out?” Sirius coughed.

Narcissa raised an eyebrow, and Sirius cracked. “How can you not be freaking out right now? That was Sirius, Sirius! And Harry fucking Potter, oh my God! I didn’t even think he was real, like a legend or something, you know?”

Narcissa nodded, even though she didn’t know, at all. Sirius let out a breath, “Okay, I’m done.”

“Good,” Narcissa said, removing the charm. “Get out the cups, will you?”

Sirius groaned, opening a cupboard and taking out a lot of cups at the same time. Inevitably, two fell on the ground, crashing and sending glass everywhere.

“Sirius! Why—”

“Is everything okay in there?” It was Tonks.

“Yes!” Narcissa said, head popping out of the kitchen. “A plate fell, no worries!” All six heads were staring at her, looking unbelieving. Narcissa backed into the kitchen, and Sirius had cleaned up the mess. She got closer and flicked him on the forehead.

“Now they think we’re screwed up in the head,” Narcissa said, setting the teapot on the stove.

“But we _are_ screwed in the head.”

Narcissa snorted. “Speak for yourself, asshole.”

Sirius hummed absentmindedly. “You know what’s weird?”

“What?”

“I look more like Sirius than I look like dad.”

“You do,” Narcissa agreed, “’cept the eyes.”

“Except the eyes… And, we have the same name!”

“Oh, how the universe works in mysterious ways,” Narcissa said sarcastically. Sirius didn’t even notice.

“It does!”

“uh-huh.”

“The weirdest ways.”

“Yes.”

“So weir—”

“I get it!” Narcissa said, good mood slowly demolishing.

“Oh, boohoo!” Sirius was playing with his hair. “Scorpius will probably cry.”

“You want to cry right now…”

“I do!” exclaimed Sirius. He took a deep breath, “but I won’t.”

“Sure.”

“My eyes won’t even water.”

“Okay.”

“I refuse to cry,” Sirius said, in a tearful voice.

“It’s okay if you—”

“No!”

“Okay then!” Narcissa said, turning off the stove. “I forbid you from crying.”

“Thank you,” Sirius breathed, rubbing his eyes.

Narcissa rolled her eyes. “How can you be this— You know what, it doesn’t matter. Bring the tray with you, okay?”

Sirius nodded, eyes wide open and glassy, still. They were deep brown; Sirius’ eyes, Scorpius’ eyes, their mother’s, also.

Narcissa turned to Sirius, holding the teapot with quite some difficulty, it was big and hot. “We’re cool.”

Sirius nodded. “So cool.”

“We don’t make scenes out of meeting world-famous wizards and witches.”

“Totally. We’re too cool for that.”

Narcissa smiled at him. Okay, whatever, her good mood was still intact. “For the record, I wanna cry as well…”

Sirius snorted. “If you stop smiling long enough.”

“Ugh.”

They both got out of the kitchen together, and headed toward where everybody else was seated, on the couch and love seat in front of the television. Narcissa set the tea on the coffee table and smiled at Molly, who was the first person she looked at. Molly smiled back. The tension in that living room weighed down on Narcissa’s bones. She tried to ignore it, though, and summoned two chairs from the dining room so that she and Sirius Regulus could sit (there was no more room on the couches). She cleared her throat and pretended that everyone around her was happy and comfortable and delighted to be there. Weirdly enough, that very much worked, as Narcissa started pouring the tea and hoping she remembered what everyone wanted correctly.

“Are they coming back?” Sirius asked, question directed to anyone that would bother to answer it.

“They better,” Mad-Eye grumbled, “or, Merlin help me, I will—”

Molly cleared her throat. “They will, dear…Sirius was probably just having, eh, a nerve-racking morning, that’s all, dear…”

“Or he probably lost a few buttons in Azkaban, you know,” Sirius said.

Narcissa cleared her throat, a _please think about what you say first_ type of clearing-your-throat, directed at Sirius.

“Don’t talk like that about him!’ Harry Potter said, voice not very pleasant at all. No one said anything for a while after that.

“Well,” Narcissa started, trying to move past the horrible awkwardness that had set upon them. If the tension was bad before, it was unbearable then. “I am sure they’d be coming here soon. Anyone know how they take their tea?”

It was Harry who answered. “Sirius takes it with nothing and milk no sugar for Remus.”

“Very well,” Narcissa hummed, still pouring tea; it was a lot of people.

“Is that his name?” Sirius asked tentatively.

“Yes,” Tonks answered, “Remus Lupin.”

“That’s a nice name,” Narcissa said, thinking about how much Scorpius would hate it, “Did his brother try to kill him in order to start an empire?” Narcissa looked up from the tea tray as she asked that question, and everyone was staring blankly at her, except Sirius. “Oh, never mind.”

After everybody had a mug of tea in their hands, and two were left on the tray, Sirius cleared his throat, interrupting the somewhat comfortable (keyword: somewhat) silence they had fallen into. Narcissa wanted to gouge her eyes out.

“Do you really think you can defeat Voldemort?”

The silence that followed that question was different than the one before it; now, it seemed like everybody was aware of their breaths and foot tapping and eye contact. No one cringed when ‘Voldemort’ was said, which, honestly, was the most surprising thing to have happened yet.

“Yes, we are,” said Mad-Eye, and the confidence in his voice was almost convincing.

(Keyword: almost).

“How can you defeat someone,” Narcissa questioned, “if they are just going to come back again?”

“What do you mean, girl?’’

“That is the problem, isn’t it? Voldemort himself is just someone that may be better than average at magic. There are a lot of witches and wizards who are just as good at magic as he is. The problem is that you can’t just face him off once, can you? Not with all the Horcruxes he’d—”

That time, Sirius stomped on Narcissa’s foot. She turned toward him. _What?_

But, oh. _Oh oh oh oh._

She closed her eyes; how could she be so fucking stupid was beyo—

“Whore what, now?” Ron asked, and was instantly met with a scandalized intake of breath, followed by a _“Ron!”_ from his mother.

Ron furrowed his eyebrows. “What! It is what she said.”

Sirius actually had it in him to giggle at that. Narcissa wanted to die in a ditch.

“How do you know about Horcruxes?”

“About what?”

“Horcruxes,” Mad-Eye stressed, sounding impatient.

“What are those?”

“Do not mess with me, girl.”

“I’m not! What do you mean?”

“Listen here—”

A ‘pop’ and a ‘pop’; Sirius and Remus were suddenly there, looking more worn-out and tired than they did before. Sirius’ eyes were bloodshot and Remus was barely able to stay on his feet. Narcissa stood up from her seat instantly and pushed the chair toward him. He sat/fell down on it instantly, his legs betraying him.

“Thank you, love…” He said, eyes closed. Everyone around them was silent; Narcissa saw her brother give his chair to Sirius, and was stupidly proud.

“Don’t worry about it, really,” Narcissa said. “I like your name!”

Remus smiled. “Thank you. It is good I don’t have a brother though, yeah?”

“Yes!” Narcissa exclaimed. She wished he was there a few moments before. She handed him the cup of tea and handed Sirius his. He was staring at Sirius (the other one, her brother) and was frowning deeply. He focused on her when he took the tea mug and coughed.

“I am sorry about earlier—”

“Oh, stop,” Narcissa dismissed. “I am so glad to finally meet you! I’ve heard so much.”

Sirius just stared at her, before he cleared his throat and looked away.

 _So enthusiastic,_ thought Narcissa, before shaking her head. She was in a good mood, and she was going to stay in a good mood. That was final.

“Would anybody like something to eat, or—” Sirius Regulus started, but was interrupted by Mad-Eye.

“Stop avoiding the question! How do you know?”

Narcissa was lost. She made a split-second decision. “Oh!” She started, tears filling up her eyes, “Oh! Do not talk to me in such a way! I— I do not appreciate threatening voices—” she tried to make her voice sound more chocked up “—they bring back bad memories! Oh, Salazar, memories that are better left not brought back! How dare you?”

Everyone in that room was silenced, and no one knew how to react. Sirius Regulus summoned a chair and led a weeping Narcissa to sit on it. He cleared his throat. “Now look what you’ve done.”

Narcissa let out a particularly loud sob, to cover her snort at Sirius’ voice. She was going to lose it.

From what Narcissa could see from the spaces between her fingers (she had put her head in her hands for maximum effect) everyone in the room was staring at a very confused looking Mad-Eye, as if wanting to strangle him. Tonks even pinched his forearm.

“Why would you do tha—” Mad-Eye started to growl in Tonk’s direction, but Molly cleared her throat and gestured toward Narcissa, who was finding it even harder then to keep up the facade.

“Eh, listen, gir— Narcissa, I hadn’t meant to make you feel, uh, threatened in whatever way, or hurt your emotions—”

“That’s not what it sounded like!” Narcissa said, taking her face out of her hands and wiping her eyes for sympathy.

“Sirius held a wand to your throat, girl!”

Narcissa made a show of blinking once very, very slowly so that the tears trapped in her eyes would fall. Tonks pinched Mad-Eye’s forearm again, and he sighed.

“I am very sorry, Narcissa.”

Narcissa wiped her eyes once again. “I will evaluate your apology.”

“What? You— very well, then, I am waiting patiently.”

Sirius Regulus beside her let out a poorly-disguised-as-a-cough chuckle, and Narcissa summoned her teacup. “Would anyone like anything to eat?”

Everyone around her looked at her as though she grew a second head, which was acceptable. Sirius (Orion) cleared his throat. “You are my brother’s offspring, aren’t you?”

“We are,” said Sirius Regulus from beside Narcissa.

“But, how? I mean, Regulus, he died—”

“1979, yes,” Narcissa said. “but no! It’s what he wanted everyone to know!”

Sirius looked at her even more confused. “But why would he want—”

“Because, that way, people wouldn’t come looking after him after he defied Voldemort.”

“Defied Voldemort,” Sirius repeated, skeptically.

“Yes!”

“My brother Regulus, yeah? We are talking about him, not an alter ego or—”

“Yes! Him. He defied Voldemort.”

“And what inspired this change of heart and unbelievable valiantness, may I ask?” Sirius sounded sarcastic.

“A house elf.”

“A house elf.”

“Yes! Kreacher, who—” Who just appeared in front of all of them, looking not too happy to be summoned.

“You called, Narcissa? Kreacher was enjoying a nap when Narcissa very rudely awakened him. Kreacher does not appreciate what an insensitive thing Narcissa had done, for Kreacher is very tired, indeed!”

Narcissa shook her head. “I’m very sorry, Kreacher! You could go back.”

Kreacher was just about to go before he froze.

“Master Black!” he exclaimed in a funny sort of voice, eyes growing twice in size. “How very unfortunate it is to meet you, Kreacher must admit, for Kreacher cannot lie. Kreacher had always preferred Master Regulus of the two brothers, always. Kreacher does, however, not wish to hurt Master Black’s feelings! Are your feelings hurt, Master Black?”

Sirius stared blankly at Kreacher, as if not sure what to make of what was happening in front of him. From across the room, Remus Lupin started laughing, which caught Kreacher’s attention. His eyes got even bigger.

“Oh, Master Lupin! Kreacher is utterly surprised Master Lupin has set foot in this house after last time! How very curious, indeed, Kreacher thinks. Shouldn’t you be resting now, Master Lupin?” That, if anything, made Remus laugh even more.

“Oh, Merlin. What happened to you, Kreacher?’ Remus asked, still laughing.

“Kreacher does not understand the question, Master Lupin… Would Master Lupin like some calming chamomile tea? For Master Lupin must be tired, Kreacher is certain.”

“I think we all could use some calming chamomile tea, Kreacher,” Narcissa said, setting her cup of regular tea in front of her.

“Kreacher was not offering to Narcissa, only to Master Lupin, who hadn’t rudely awakened Kreacher from his fine nap”

Narcissa sucked in a dramatic breath, and Sirius Regulus laughed.

“I’d love some, Kreacher.”

“Very well. Kreacher is very surprised to see both of you here, for, frankly, Kreacher thought you had died. Kreacher is not sure if he is glad to meet you, though… Kreacher means no offense, of course.” And with that, he apparated where he came from.

Sirius blinked twice. “What the hell happened to him?”

“What do you mean?” Sirius Regulus asked.

“What do I mean?! I— You know what, it doesn’t matter…”

“Ehm,” Narcissa said, “Do we continue our story or…”

“Please do,” said Tonks.

“Voldemort asked my father to give him his house elf to do something, that’s Kreacher, and he hurt him trying to do, eh, something. So my father undid the something that Voldemort used his house elf to, uh, do, and he then left here to go to Lebanon, where he stayed and met our mother, who also later abandoned him, which, really, what a horrible fate, right?” Narcissa hurried through the story, not wanting to mention the Horcruxes again.

“You’re going to have to be more elaborate than that, Narcissa…” Mad-Eye said.

“That’s how our father always told us the story,” Sirius Regulus said, backing Narcissa up. “We don’t know any specifics.”

Mad-Eye shook his head but said nothing.

(Lest someone else break out in tears).

“He really defied Voldemort? Regulus, I mean,” asked Remus.

“Yes.”

“Did he still believe in blood purity, or—”

“Our mother is a muggle,” Sirius Regulus interrupted, “If that means anything.

“You have to be shitting me,” Sirius (Orion) said, earning a _Sirius!_ From Molly. “My brother Regulus married a muggle?”

Narcissa nodded.

Sirius looked like he was in deep thought. “When did he die, then?”

“July 1993.”

“How?”

Narcissa cleared her throat. She didn’t want to lie but felt she needed to. “Car crash,” she said, because it was the first thing that came to mind. She internally groaned. _Really?_

 _“_ A car crash?”

“Yes. It was horrible.”

“So horrible,” Sirius Regulus agreed. “Blood everywhere, bones brea—”

“You were there?!” asked Molly.

“Eh, yes. Yes, we were.” Sirius Regulus nodded slowly. “Horrible, it was.”

“Oh, you poor souls!” Molly exclaimed.

“How could a car crash—”

“Oh, hush, Sirius. They don’t want to talk about it, do you?”

Narcissa and Sirius Regulus shook their heads. Narcissa was very thankful to Molly. She should gift her something.

A horrible thought had suddenly occurred to Narcissa. “Are we going to have to leave?”

“Huh?”

“Because, eh, you want to stay here, don’t you? Do we need to leave, because—”

“Of course not!” Said Sirius, “This is your home. We could find someplace else—”

“You don’t have to,” interrupted Sirius Regulus. “I mean, the Order is an amazing thing— Stay here!”

“I guess it won’t be a problem when you start school…” Sirius looked deep in thought.

“We don’t go to Hogwarts,” blurted Narcissa.

“What?”

“Our father was afraid Death Eaters would track us down—”

“How did you learn?” Tonks asked. “I mean, you seem pretty comfortable with magic.”

“Out dad taught us, well, up until three years ago. Then we kind of managed on our own.”

“Did you get your letters?” Remus asked.

“We did, all three of us.”

“Why not go now? I mean, we could probably rearrange some things with Dumbledore for you to take your O.W.LS. Nothing is stopping you…” Remus trailed off.

Narcissa shrugged. “I guess we never considered it before. Dumbledore never considered it, at least.”

“You know about Dumbledore?” Remus asked, sounding confused.

“We do. He checks upon us, sometimes,” Sirius Regulus said, absentmindedly. Remus ended up looking even more confused, and Sirius (Orion) looked like he was on the verge of hitting something.

Narcissa didn’t think she could handle another breakdown. “Maybe we’re talking about two diff—”

“Dumbledore knew about you?” Sirius Orion questioned in a barely-there voice, and it was, frankly, terrifying. Sirius turned his attention to Remus, “Dumbledore knew about them, and didn’t think that I would like to know?”

Remus looked lost. He cleared his throat. “Maybe he thought tha—”

“No!” Sirius exclaimed, voice rising so suddenly it made Narcissa jolt. Everyone was looking at Sirius Orion now, but he held Remus’ gaze, as Remus held his. “How can you even think of justifying this, Remus? How?!”

“Maybe—” Narcissa started, making sure she stressed the word enough so that everyone would pay attention, “—Maybe there’s been some kind of misunderstanding? Aberforth isn’t a social man, exactly, and—”

“Aberforth?” asked Mad-Eye, sounding so very done. “Oh, Merlin help us. What has Aberforth Dumbledore— This is insane!”

“We’re— Sorry?” Sirius Regulus said.

“How about we wait until McGonagall gets here? We can clear it up with her, go to Aberforth if all else fails.” Remus sounded tired but calm. He did have a point, and everyone agreed with him. All they could do now was wait.

Narcissa was having a very good day, indeed.

**…**

**November 28 th, 1979. Midnight.**

Narcissa Malfoy could not sleep.

If anyone were to ask her about it, she’d tell them that nausea was what kept her up. They’d smile in her direction and tell her how “It’s only the first few months!” and “It’ll be over before you know it!”

She’d smile, too, like she was supposed to, and say that she couldn’t wait to meet the person whom she now shared a body with. Whom she will always share a soul with.

She’d be lying.

Because, ever since she found out she was pregnant a few weeks ago, she had been utterly and completely terrified. How could she not be? When she was bringing a child, _child,_ into this war that she could not see any resolve to in the foreseeable future. Narcissa Malfoy felt guilty and, well, nauseated, but not from the pregnancy. It was from thinking too much, from being scared, from the Daily Prophet article she had read that morning about the muggle family with two children that were killed with cold blood the night before.

How could she not be nauseated?

She sighed and got out of bed; it was too big, anyway, without Lucius in it.

Her heart clenched. She loved Lucius, she did, but she couldn’t stand looking at him anymore, ever since finding out about the baby. She couldn’t believe what he was doing and who he was serving. Narcissa was prejudiced, she knew that. She always had been. She didn’t mind what Lucius was doing before, because she believed in it herself. But, now? It made her sick. What she believed in before (she didn’t, anymore). What her husband believed in, still. It made her feel sick and dirty and shook her to the core. But what was she supposed to do, now? As far as she could tell, they were on the winning side. That was better for their baby, right?

Narcissa sighed once more. She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything. When she first found out she was pregnant, she flooed without even thinking to Andromeda’s house. Andromeda, her sister. Andromeda, whom she hadn’t spoken to in so long, too long. She had never, up until then, felt so utterly alone. Andromeda invited Narcissa to her home after seeing her soaking in the rain outside; of course she did. It was the single most humiliating night in Narcissa’s life, but she was grateful. She was grateful for her sister and her husband. For talking with her, calming her, and changing her mind because fuck anyone who thought Andromeda or Ted were lesser people. Fuck anyone who thought that Narcissa was better because she had not been a blood traitor. Fuck them.

Narcissa and Andromeda were communicating in secret, and it was honestly what kept Narcissa going. She had met her niece for the first time, and she couldn’t believe that she hadn’t before. It was all so messed up.

Narcissa sighed once more, looking at the pitch-black sky from her window. The night was so tranquil and quiet, it felt like nothing could disturb her.

She jinxed it. Suddenly, a very shocked looking Dobby appeared in front of her, obviously distressed.

“What’s wrong, Dobby?”

“Oh, Mistress, Dobby is very sorry, it is an emergency, you see—”

“What emergency, Dobby?” Narcissa asked as she got up to her feet.

“Master Regulus Black and his house elf are here, mistress. Master Regulus Black is dying, Mistress, and Kreacher—”

“Take me to them _this instant_ , Dobby,” Narcissa said, grabbing Dobby’s forearm quickly.

“Whatever you want, Mistress,” Dobby said, and they were, at once, in the Malfoy Manor garden, where Narcissa saw Regulus Black, her baby cousin, on the ground, crying in despair. His house elf was standing very near him, holding a golden locket.

Narcissa couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She stayed where she was for a moment, not really interpreting Regulus’ screams. Dobby tugged on Narcissa’s robes, and that waked her up from her trance.

She started running and running and running, up until she was next to Regulus, who looked pale and sweaty. “No! Sirius, please, no! Don’t leave me here, please!” Regulus sobbed, talking to no one in particular. Narcissa held his hand.

“Regulus, love, it’s—”

“Don’t make him do it,” Regulus begged, “please, stop him, he—”

“I will, Reg,” Narcissa said, her eyes swelling up with tears. She quickly wiped them. Now was not the time. She turned toward the house elf. “What happened?”

“Master Regulus drank a potion! He told Kreacher to leave him alone but Kreacher couldn’t. Master Regulus was in pain! He—”

Narcissa ignored the house elf. _Pain and hallucinations. Pain and hallucinations. Pain and hallucinatio—_

“The Emerald Potion!” Narcissa exclaimed. That was what Regulus must’ve taken.

Narcissa acted fast; She apparated both herself and Regulus to the manor’s basement, which doubled as a Potions lab. She set Regulus on a couch and started opening and closing cupboards. Narcissa was a brilliant student, she was confident she could brew the antidote in no time. It was a rather easy potion to make and it took no longer than twenty minutes. That wasn’t the challenge. What was a challenge was ignoring Regulus screaming and screaming and screaming. It made her hands shaky.

She did end up finishing it, and she didn’t know how. All she knew was that now she had a vial full of the antidote. She took it and sat in front of Regulus, who was no longer screaming, but begging for water.

“Here you go, love,” Narcissa said as she made Regulus drink every last drop of the pale green potion. He fell asleep at once, which was what was supposed to happen.

Narcissa let out a breath that sounded more like a sob. She wiped her eyes and summoned Dobby.

“Yes, Mistress?”

“Bring Kreacher to me right now!”

“Kreacher is here, Mistress,” Kreacher, who Narcissa had just noticed, said.

“What happened?” Narcissa held Regulus’ hand, and she knew that she was screaming. She didn’t care though. She felt light-headed and weak, but she let out a breath.

At least Regulus was safe; that was all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That took longer than I had originally hoped, but it's here! I have so much I am excited about for this story. Narcissa (Malfoy) will make an appearance in the next chapter, and so will Scorpius, which is super cool. Chapter 3 will hopefully (hopefully) be up very soon.  
> Thank you so much for reading! xx


	3. Everything We Are Trying To Hide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for a vivid description of an attack in the flashback.

A crash of some sort startled a very tired Scorpius awake. 

He didn’t open his eyes; he felt like he couldn’t. His muscles ached all over, and he was shivering. Usually, the worst part of the ‘morning after’ (which, honestly, he wished it was what it sounded like) was the impossible chest pains that made it hard to breathe and get up and walk and do _anything_ required to function as a human _._

The day after the full moon was way worse than the full moon itself. The day afterward, he always remembered. Full moons were hazy and blurred, scene cutting into another scene in his mind too quickly for Scorpius to make sense of any part of it. After the full moon went down, he had to deal with the aftermath. The cuts and bruises and metallic scent of blood that made his stomach turn. 

He managed to barely open his eyes, to a partially dark room. He was grateful to whoever pulled down the drapes (probably Narcissa, bless her soul). He got up slowly and sat on the edge of his bed. It was almost like he was moving in water, with languid lazy movements to ensure that nothing that was already bad got worse. When this was all new, the full moons and morning afters, he managed to dislocate his shoulder when he woke up, every single time without fail. His father would put it back into place and tell him to _be more careful, Scorp, please…_

It took Scorpius a while to get used to how fragile his body got after the full moon, and while he hadn’t dislocated anything in a while, he wasn’t going to take any chances. 

After rubbing his eyes and slowly limping to the bathroom, he forced himself to take a quick shower. He hated showering afterward; the water would make all the gashes sting and burn. He did feel a lot better after taking a shower than before, though, which was why he forced himself to do it. 

Suffer now, feel good later. Or whatever. 

He stood in front of the bathroom sink to look at himself in the mirror. It looked like he had definitely seen better days, but still, not as bad as it could be. His blond hair (Yes, blond. He had his mother’s hair and eyes. Narcissa and Sirius did look alike, and he looked nothing like them. He had the same eyes as Sirius, but that was it. He hated it when he was younger. Feelings on the topic now were yet to be determined. Maybe he liked the huge contrast.) was dripping water on his face and neck. The veins underneath his eyes were protruding from exhaustion, and his skin was pale and itchy. No scars on his face but a thin one near his jaw. 

He quickly brushed his teeth and exited the bathroom to get dressed. He realized when he put his shirt on that he was alone; with just a jumble of blankets occupying Sirius’ bed, and no Sirius. That was weird, seeing that it was still very early in the morning (Scorpius felt like a train was crashing into him over and over and over again from the lack of sleep. He didn’t want to waste the day sleeping, though, even if it was the only thing his muscles were begging for.) Sirius was not known for his love of mornings, that was for sure. 

_Maybe he still hasn’t gone to bed._

Scorpius opened the bedroom door to get out, and he heard multiple voices coming from the lower floor. He heard Narcissa talking, but also someone else. He furrowed his eyebrows. Who the hell would visit them that early in the morning? No, scratch that. Who the hell would visit them ever?

Scorpius walked down the hall and looked at himself in a mirror there. He performed a quick-drying charm on his hair, and it instantly frizzed up. He groaned and tried to manipulate the strands into looking somewhat presentable, giving up after a few moments; his hair was probably the most presentable part about him, anyway.

Scorpius went down the stairs one by one, and when he got to the bottom, he saw a lot of people in the living room. More people than he was willing to meet. Narcissa was saying something about how she’d always wanted to try something, and everybody was listening to her. Scorpius managed to walk to the kitchen, unnoticed. He was busy looking behind his back (literally), so he didn’t notice crashing into something-- no, someone. He crashed into Kreacher, whose eyes grew three times in size (maybe even more). 

“Scorpius! My, my, my. Kreacher has not seen such blatant stupidity in a while, no sir! What are you doing up? Scorpius must’ve lost a few dozen buttons, for sure! How--”

Scorpius held a silencing finger to his lips, begging Kreacher to stop. He needed to actually feel awake to meet these people, whom he honestly felt like not meeting at all. He sighed. 

Kreacher shook his head disapprovingly but said nothing, and Scorpius could not have been more grateful. He tried to smile in Kreacher’s direction and saw the house elf shake his head disapprovingly, once again.

“Would Scorpius like some calming chamomile tea?” Kreacher asked, in a hushed whisper. Scorpius shook his head no, because he honestly didn’t think he could stomach anything at that moment. Kreacher tutted, and with a snap, a burning cup of what Scorpius could only assume was chamomile tea appeared in front of him. 

Kreacher squinted his eyes, trying to look intimidating. Scorpius felt himself smile for the first time since he woke up; Kreacher was ridiculous. “If Scorpius doesn’t drink his calming tea, Kreacher is afraid he would have to take some serious, serious measure, Scorpius sir.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yes, that is so! This has been a warning, Sir Scorpius.”

“Okay!” Scorpius said, raising his arms in mock surrender. “I’ll drink it, Kreacher… Also, don’t call me that.”

“It is the proper way to address someone, Scorpius sir…”

Scorpius rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. He took the mug and was grateful for how warm it felt under his hands. Usually, his hands and feet would be freezing after a full moon, even in the middle of summer. The warmth was deeply appreciated. “Thank you, Kreacher.”

“You’re very not welcome, Scorpius sir. Kreacher feels like he is doing something bad, and sir Scorpius is the reason!”

Scorpius shook his head. “You aren’t, Kreacher, I promise. Now, please do tell me, who’s outside?”

Kreacher held up a tray with what had to be a dozen or so mugs, and he shook his head. “If sir Scorpius wants to find out who the visitors are, sir Scorpius would have to go out and find out for himself.” and off he went. 

Scorpius sighed, and took a sip of his tea. He really wanted to know. He set his cup on a counter and headed toward the living room. Everyone was sitting around the coffee table, on either the couch and love seat or dining table chairs that were put near the couch. It was a very unusual sight; their living room had never been even remotely that crowded. Someone with brown hair and tired eyes was talking to Kreacher, looking amused. He was asking him about Regulus, his father, and Scorpius was more than content just listening. 

That, however, didn’t last for long. A girl with bright purple hair had caught sight of him, and her hair instantly turned the exact shade of blonde that Scorpius’ was. She grinned in his direction. “I love your hair!” 

That caught everyone’s attention, and soon there were too many pairs of eyes on Scorpius to count. He wanted the ground to swallow him whole. 

“What the hell are you doing up?” Narcissa asked, in a high pitched voice that was a telltale sign that she was pissed. 

“I, eh, well, I woke up--” Scorpius had no idea where he was going with that sentence, and he didn’t need to because Sirius Regulus summoned (another) dining table chair and made him sit on it. Narcissa was next to them in an instant.

“Don’t be so daft, Scorp,” She said, as she put her hand on his forehead. Scorpius knew he was burning, just like Narcissa knew he was burning, like always, It was unnecessary. Narcissa frowned, still. 

“It’s way too early, Scorp,” Sirius Regulus said, and Scorpius just shrugged. He honestly would rather be in his bed, of course, but not before he understood what was going on. He hated missing out on things because of full moons. 

He _hated_ it. 

“Mind introducing us, Narcissa?” The purple-haired girls asked, and Narcissa sighed before shaking her head. 

“Not at all! Everyone, this is Scorpius--” She then turned toward Scorpius, fake smiling in his direction, “-And Scorp, everybody.” 

Scorpius hated very few things- hate was a strong emotion that Scorpius believed people ought to understand the difference between it and dislike, blah blah blah. But Scorpius could say with absolute certainty that he hated 1. full moons and 2. people looking at him; being the center of attention. 

“Hey,” Scorpius said faintly, trying to stop wishing the earth would swallow him. A few other people greeted him back; a red-haired woman and a girl with bushy brown hair sitting close to her. A middle-aged man with a charmed eye was staring at him intensely, not blinking, not averting his eyes when Scorpius met his gaze. It was rather odd.

“There are three of you?” A black-haired person asked, sounding startled, as if Scorpius’ appearance had just dawned on him.

Narcissa shook her head, chuckling slightly. “I did say triplets, did I not?” Narcissa’s eyes were positively beaming, the anger directed at Scorpius gone, or at the very least, put on hold. “Scorpius, you are not going to--”

“Oh, for Merlin’s sake!” the man with the charmed eye spoke, getting up to his feet. “I am not sitting through this again.” And with that, he left the living room in an instant. 

If Scorpius had been confused before, he didn’t even know what he was feeling then. 

“Erm,” started a boy with curly brown hair, round glasses, and a scar the shape of a lightning bo-

“You’re Harry Potter!” Scorpius exclaimed dumbly. He felt his cheeks flush instantly. He had not meant to say that aloud.

Harry Potter looked, for lack of a better word, awkward, “Well--”

“Yes!” Narcissa exclaimed, “It”s Harry Potter, vanquisher of the dark lord, the one he-who-must-not-be-named fears most! The boy who fucking--”

“Okay,” Sirius Regulus said loudly, cutting off Narcissa. She stepped on his foot. “Ouch! Stop that. Anyway, and that's--” Sirius pointed to the black-haired man that was surprised to see Scorpius. “That is Sirius Black!”

Scorpius’ mind might be lagging a little bit because he couldn’t understand where Sirius Regulus was coming from. “Um.”

“It’s Sirius, Scorp!” Narcissa said, sounding even more excited. Scorpius knew who Sirius was, had shared a womb with him, all that, and he’s never seen Narcissa that--

_It’s the man!_

“You look like my dad,” Scorpius said abruptly. He stood up, and instantly his vision was swarmed with black and colorful dots. He closed his eyes and tried to regain his balance. His chest felt too tight, suddenly, and if he hated the room full of people before, he _despised_ it then.

Sirius, Scorpius’ uncle Sirius, the one he had always wanted to meet, the one his father loved, the one that he believed was innocent, the Sirius that _was_ innocent, looked concerned. “And you look like you are about to faint. Sit down!”

Scorpius complied. He sat down and tried to will the dizziness away. Funnily enough, it worked. 

“Stupid Scorpius,” Narcissa mumbled as she gave Scorpius his teacup. “Everyone! Yes: Sirius, our uncle, Molly, Hermione, Ron, Harry freaking Potter, Nymphadora Tonks and Remus. The person who stormed off is Alastor Moody, he’s a bit of a mess, to be honest.”

Scorpius tried to make sense of what Narcissa was saying. “The—the order—”

“Of the fucking Phoenix!” Narcissa cut him off, and turned red. “Eh, sorry. I’m excited.”

Nymphadora let out a chuckle. “You don’t say.”

A somewhat tense silence fell upon them, momentarily. Narcissa, being Narcissa, broke it. She told Scorpius that they’re waiting for Minerva McGonagall to appear, and then fell into a conversation about underage magic laws with Nymphadora, and a somewhat easy chatter broke out all around. 

Scorpius noticed that the man with brown hair and an arrangement of scars, Remus, was staring at him intently. Scorpius almost jerked away in surprise when their eyes met; their almost identical, yellow ringed, exhausted eyes. Remus raised an inquiring eyebrow, and Scorpius broke eye contact at once. He now knew what the scars were from, or at least he may have a pretty strong guess. 

Sirius Orion, Scorpius realized after looking at him for a few seconds, looked horrible. He had scabs all over his palms and face, a 5 o’clock shadow that made him look older than he was, and his eyes were red and swollen. Despite all that, Scorpius’ declaration still stood; the resemblance between his father and Sirius was uncanny. Scorpius wasn’t sure how he felt about that, still. It almost felt surreal, what was happening. Like watching a movie or listening to someone articulate narrate a story very well. Everything was happening around him, not to him, and he was just watching, listening, trying to--

“Scorpius!”

“Hm?” Everyone around him was silent, tense, suddenly. Although he hadn’t noticed it at first, there were now three more people in their living room. One of whom, Minerva McGonagall, Scorpius recognized. The woman and who appeared to be her son, however, Scorpius did not recognize. 

“Good morning,” Minerva McGonagall greeted as her eyes scanned the room. If anything looked out of the ordinary to her, she didn’t let on. “I was called?”

Sirius Orion was gritting his teeth, he was tense and his fists were clenched. Harry Potter was mirroring his stance. 

“What are you doing here?” Harry asked, his tone accusatory.

“And I thought I’d be warmly greeted, Mr. Potter,” McGonagall said dryly, fixing her glasses. 

“Not—not you, Professor. It— it’s lovely to see you,” Potter blabbered, almost absentmindedly, then he focused his attention on the woman and her son. “What are _you_ doing here?” 

The woman seemed not to have heard him. She was staring at Narcissa intently, as if deciphering something. Her eyes fell on Sirius Regulus, Scorpius, and then on Narcissa again. 

The woman gasped, her wand (which was held out) clattered on the floor. Her son (the resemblance was eerie) beside her jerked in surprise, and Scorpius heard him mutter a “Mother?” under his breath.

The woman didn’t seem to hear her son, though, and started walking towards Narcissa in what resembled a trance. Sirius Orion blocked her way, though.

Sirius’ eyes were cold and dark. The woman almost hit him square in the chest, but she stopped at the very last second. 

She eyed Sirius Orion for a moment, and if possible, Sirius’ glare grew harder. “Very nice to see you, dearest cousin. Very kind of you to finally visi--” The venom in Sirius’ tone made Scorpius cringe, but the woman didn’t seem to notice it. Or at least, she didn’t seem to care. 

She interrupted Sirius’ sarcastic greeting with the most desperate hug Scorpius had ever seen. Whatever Sirius was expecting, it was evidently not getting embraced. His posture stiffened and he let out a sound of surprise.

After a few tense moments, with the woman mumbling hushed hysterics while hugging Sirius, Sirius hugged her back, and, although Scorpius would’ve guessed it would be awkward, it looked natural. The woman started openly sobbing, then, and Scorpius didn’t have it in him to keep on looking. 

It felt like he was intruding on something private. 

All around the living room, people were either too confused (Sirius Regulus, Narcissa, and Scorpius) or too shocked (Everyone else-- except McGonagall, she looked serene) to speak. Nymphadora’s jaw was all but hitting the floor, Molly looked like she was seconds away from bursting in tears, her son like it was taking everything in him not to burst out laughing; Hermione looked like she was slowly trying to figure out what was going on, and Harry Potter wore a simultaneously betrayed and guilty expression, which was a weird expression, indeed. Narcissa and Sirius Regulus looked exactly the same: bewildered but excited. Remus Lupin was staring at Sirius with big, sad, and tired eyes(though Remus had been looking at Sirius with that very same gaze for a while; Scorpius suspected that, as what related to the woman, Remus was not at all surprised.)

The woman’s son, who was already pale when Scorpius first saw him, looked like a ghost; like he was seconds away from actually fainting. Scorpius wasn’t the only one that noticed; McGonagall summoned a chair and gently pushed him to sit down. 

The boy looked at Scorpius, and Scorpius looked away instantly. He wasn’t sure where to look, exactly.

He chanced a look toward the women and Sirius; Sirius was saying something in a hushed tone that made the woman give a teary chuckle. She pulled away and pinched Sirius’ forearm, tear tracks obvious on her mirror-like skin. She was smiling, though, presumably from what Sirius had said.

“Still as tactless and crude as ever, Sirius,” The woman said as she rubbed her eyes. “Are they really…?”

“Did you know?”

They both spoke at the same time.

“I only just found out,” Sirius mumbled, looking awkward, suddenly. “I don’t know what to do or, you know..”

The woman raised an eyebrow. “I know?”

“Yes.”

The woman’s eyes landed on Narcissa and Sirius Regulus. “Narcissa and Sirius, right?” She didn’t give them a chance to respond; she started looking around the room until her eyes landed on Scorpius, and she smiled sadly in his direction. “And Scorpius!” She turned to Sirius Orion, then, grinning. “When Regulus wrote to me about them, he said that one of his children looked more like me than him--” She touched her curly blonde hair, “-- and I can guess which one he meant.”

Sirius smiled, just slightly, and it made him look like another person. “You kept in touch?”

“We never met after what happened with Kreacher, but he did keep writing to me, up until he…” The woman’s voice got heavier as she spoke, “--up until Bellatrix--”

“What?” Sirius Orion asked, confused. “What does Bellatrix have to do with any of this?”

Scorpius saw that both his siblings were trying to look as casual as possible, but it wasn’t working.

The woman sighed. “Oh, Sirius. After she escaped, she started hunting him down because he conspired against the dark-- Voldemort. She--”

“I thought you said your father died in a car crash?” Nymphadora interrupted, seemingly ahead of all of them. She was talking to Sirius Regulus and Narcissa, and Scorpius suddenly figured out why they were trying so hard. 

“A car crash?” Scorpius asked. “Nothing more creative than that?”

“Oh, shut your trap, Scorp,” Narcissa said, looking rather pleased, which was weird, considering everything that was happening around them. She then turned her attention towards the woman, and she smiled. “I think I know who you are.”

The woman hummed. “Do you, now?”

Narcissa nodded. 

“Well, you’re ahead of me, Cissa,” Sirius Regulus said, sounding annoyed. “Can you tell us who you are?”

 _Please,_ Scorpius thought.

“She’s my cousin, your, uh, first cousin once-- actually, it makes her your father’s cousin. Do with that what you will,” Sirius Orion said, rubbing his temple. Scorpius didn’t think he was over the ‘your cousin killed your brother’ thing, yet. 

Narcissa smiled brightly, but Sirius Regulus frowned. “Your sister murdered our dad!”

The woman’s face fell, and Narcissa stepped on Sirius’ foot. 

“And she saved our father’s life!” Narcissa said, dryly. “Kind of makes you think that people are only responsible for their actions and not the actions of anyone else-- honestly Sirius!”

“But--”

“Narcissa’s named after you,” Scorpius blurted, not meaning to. He sighed and turned towards Sirius Regulus. “If dad named Narcissa after her, then surely--”

The woman, Narcissa Malfoy, let out a startled laugh. “I might have bullied him into doing that.”

Narcissa, Scorpius’ sister Narcissa, looked euphoric. Sirius Regulus looked like he was considering the whole situation. From across the room, a crash sound startled all of them. 

The boy-- their cousin, had maybe tried to get up from where he was seated but was apparently unable to. He had fallen on the floor, next to the stool, and looked like he might throw up. Narcissa, his mother, was next to him so quickly that, if Scorpius had blinked, he would’ve missed it.

They started talking in hushed whispers, and McGonagall cleared her throat, taking everybody’s attention away from them and unto her. She had an aura to her that made it obvious to Scorpius that she was powerful and respected. She cleared her throat once again. “Narcissa and Draco Malfoy are the newest members of the Order of the Phoenix. It--” an obvious objection was just about to come out of Harry Potter’s mouth, but one look from McGonagall made it die down. “As I was saying, it was supposed to be brought to your attention by Alastor Moody, but judging from the fact that he is not currently here, and the armada of long-lost and hidden relatives, I assuming that he had gotten derailed and didn’t get the chance, yes?” 

It took a while to realize that McGonagall had asked them a question. 

“Yes,” Hermione said after a while, when nobody else spoke up.

“Thank you, Miss Granger. Dumbledore will be here shortly, he--”

“Can Aberforth Dumbledore join us?” Remus asked.

McGonagall furrowed her eyebrows.

“Narcissa tells us that he visits sometimes,” Remus clarified. Narcissa nodded enthusiastically. 

“Did you know, Professor?” Sirius Orion asked. “About…”

“I knew that Regulus Black survived the war, and passed away weeks before you broke out, Sirius. I didn’t know that he had any children, no.”

“No one knew,” Sirius Regulus said.

“Our dad told no one, to--”

“To keep you safe,” McGonagall completed, tone considerate. “It was the right thing to do. Do any of the Death Eaters know?”

Narcissa’s eyes flashed to Scorpius. “No. Not that I know of.”

McGonagall did not miss the slight hesitation, but she didn’t comment. She then focused on Remus. “I don’t think that Albus and Aerforth have spoken in a very long time. But, I can talk to Albus about it.”

Remus nodded. 

Scorpius noticed that both Narcissa Malfoy and her son were no longer there. They must have decided to go to a place more private. Remus Lupin started talking to McGonagall about the order living arrangements and Hogwarts arrangements. Molly was talking to Nymphadora, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were having what seemed to be a heated discussion; Ron’s face was skeptical and Harry Potter looked angry, properly angry.

“They wouldn’t trust them if they had any reason not to; I think it’s best if we just leave it alone, Harry,” Hermione said in a hushed whisper, trying to reason with--

“Scorpius!” Narcissa exclaimed, making Scorpius jump. She was not standing behind him a moment ago, nor was Sirius Regulus. “It’s not polite to eavesdrop, you know.”

Scorpius didn’t have a response to that; he shrugged. “As if you’re not eavesdropping, Cissa.”

“This doesn’t feel real,” Sirius Regulus stated as they sat down around the coffee table. Everyone else was occupied, so it felt like they were alone, slightly. “Does this feel real to anyone else?”

Narcissa and Scorpius both shook their heads. 

“I don’t even know what I was going to do today, it’s--”

Narcissa cut him off. “Today! You are supposed to be sleeping! And you too, Scorp! Oh, Salazar, it escaped my mind--Why the hell are you two up? You didn’t sleep last night!”

“To be fair,” Scorpius started, “neither did you.

“To be fair,” Sirius Regulus parroted, “she didn’t spend last night clawing at--”

Both Narcissa and Scorpius shushed him, and he guiltily apologized to Scorpius . 

“I’ll go as soon as all of this is figured out,” Scorpius said. “I don’t want to miss out on anything.”

“I don’t think this is going to get figured out any time soon, Scorp,” Sirius whispers. “It’s a mess. Everyone seems too confused or awestruck or teary to--”

“Let’s go to Sirius,” Narcissa said. “He looks like he wants to talk to us.” 

Scorpius tried not to make it obvious when he slowly turned around to look at Sirius, but he doesn’t think it worked. Sirius Orion was looking at them, and when their eyes met, Sirius Orion smiled hesitantly, and Scorpius felt, abruptly, stupidly, selfishly, that his father was the one smiling at him, reassuring him, putting his shoulder back into place. 

He suddenly didn’t feel like talking to Sirius at all.

“You guys go,” Scorpius heard himself say. “I need to go tell Kreacher to help me with--”

“With what?” Narcissa asked, raising an eyebrow. 

But Scorpius was already halfway to the kitchen. And he was definitely less than welcome. Narcissa Malfoy and her son were sitting around the kitchen table, whispering frantically.

“--I don’t know,” Narcissa Malfoy said, voice firm and steady. “I don’t. I’m sorry, but that is all I have for now. But we’re safe, now, Draco. See; the order would neve--”

“They’d never stand by our side!” Draco bellowed, voice shaky and accent heavy. “We are not one of them, mother, you--”

“There is no ‘them’ and ‘us’, Draco. Not anymore. Believe me, dearest, I would never…”

Somebody tapped on Scorpius’ shoulder, and he jumped, slightly. His cheeks turned crimson when he realized that it was Professor McGonagall. 

“Would you join us in the parlor, Mr. Black?” McGonagall asked, lip slightly quirked upward. “That is, if you’re not otherwise busy, of course.”

Scorpius nodded and hurried back to the living room, trying to shake away the embarrassment when he realized that there was, once again, more people than there were when he left. A tall wizard with the longest white, shiny beard Scorpius had ever seen, and a shorter wizard with long black hair and a pained expression as he regarded Sirius Regulus and Narcissa. The tall wizard noticed him first, and he smiled. 

“Ah,” the wizard said. “Now we have the full set!”

****…..** **

****Dec 24th, 1983. 11:37 p.m.** **

Regulus Black fell on the couch, desperately glad the children were asleep. He would have scolded himself for thinking that, but he didn’t have it in him. 

Today was, in every definition possible, a bad day.

There were good days and bad ones; there had been ever since Elizabeth left with nothing to show for it except a poorly written letter Regulus woke up to on Valentine’s day.

She chose to leave with her ‘easier’ (as she had described him) lover on _Valentine’s day._ Regulus had planned out what they were going to do. He had booked a babysitter and wanted to go with Elizabeth to the festival two towns away because she had mentioned that she missed amusement parks two weeks prior. And then, he woke up to a letter and an empty side of the wardrobe and three inquiring three-year-olds asking about mommy. 

Which was wonderful. 

He didn’t know what to tell them, at first. He decided not to lie and told them that their mother had left. Scorpius started crying, then, and Narcissa furrowed her eyebrows. Sirius looked bored as he asked, “But when she coming back?”

And, ever since then, there were good days and bad ones. A lot of firsts, as well. First spring without mommy. First summer vacation without mommy. First Halloween without mommy. The firsts were mostly bad days, and since today had been ‘first Christmas eve’ without mommy, it was naturally a rather bad day.

It hadn’t started as a bad day. It started with Regulus waking up to three giggly, excited, and energetic babies (he was aware that they were no longer ’babies’, at all, really. But they would always be, to him, at least.) trying to whisper about how they would wake him up. It was moments like these when Regulus felt like he wasn’t heartbroken at all. Where Elizabeth was nowhere on his mind. He woke up and they had Christmas eve breakfast; they made their Christmas eve cookies and got dressed for their Christmas eve walk. They were so excited, all three of them, and Regulus couldn’t, in good conscious, stay in a bad mood. They got home and ate their lunch and were drawing on the dining table when Scorpius asked about his mother, which prompted Sirius and Narcissa to ask about their mother, as well. Regulus couldn’t tell them that she left, again, not with how excited and happy they were about Christmas and presents and snow. He, instead, told them that she was coming home soon, and his heart broke at how happy that had made them, because it was a lie; Elizabeth was not coming back. 

They were asleep, now, in their bedroom (they refused to sleep in separate bedrooms), and Regulus was sprawled on the couch, thinking about how much he missed Elizabeth, how betrayed he felt. How he wished that he would hate her, but how he didn’t; he could never hate her. She was his first love, the first good thing that had happened in his unbelievably miserable life. She never ran away when he revealed himself to her, every part, the beautiful and the not so. She, in her letter, said that she would forever love him, that she would never forget, and Regulus thought--

A scream, and Regulus was running up the stairs before it registered, at all. He opened his children’s bedroom door and his heart sank at what he saw. 

The window had been broken, snow and ice-cold wind were coming through. His son, _his son,_ Scorpius was limp on the floor, his pajama shirt sleeve stained crimson. He wasn’t moving.

A werewolf, one bigger than Regulus had ever seen, was making his way toward Narcissa and Sirius. They were in a corner, trying not to cry too loudly. The wolf howled, and Regulus came back to himself. He threw a curse at the werewolf without really knowing what it was. All he knew, he was feeling murderous when he cast it. The curse had hit the werewolf in the middle of his chest, and it flung him backward, cracking the wall. Regulus heard a bone break, and then nothing. 

He wasn’t sure if the werewolf was alive or dead, and it didn’t matter. Narcissa and Sirius were crying loudly now, and Regulus had never wished he could tear himself into two pieces as much as he did then. It killed him, not being able to be there for all of them at once, but he had to make sure that Scorpius was okay. His limbs felt heavy as he knelt next to his son to feel his pulse. He was alive, and Regulus could _breathe._ He didn’t know how he did it, where he got the strength, but he carried Scorpius on his shoulder, then went to get Narcissa and Sirius. With Narcissa and Sirius in hysterics and Scorpius barely breathing, Regulus apparated them all to St.Mungo’s, a continent and then some away. He never knew how he did it, but it didn’t matter. Nothing did, except making sure that his kids were okay. A nurse, looking startled as Regulus appeared suddenly, took Scorpius away, and another nurse started talking to him, but he didn’t understand what she was saying. He became suddenly aware of Scorpius’ blood staining his hands, of his two frightened babies, and he wanted, more than anything in the entire world, to make it stop, to break down in peace.

But he didn’t; couldn’t, wouldn’t. 

He took one, two, three breaths, before smiling and sitting next to Narcissa and Sirius on the floor. He started talking then, he wasn’t sure about what, but he talked and talked and talked until both Narcissa and Sirius calmed down enough to sleep. A nurse offered to take them, and Regulus had never heard a worse suggestion. He held them close, still on the floor, and he begged the same nurse to get him news on Scorpius. The nurse nodded before hurrying along, and Regulus was left alone, on the floor, wondering how any of this happened. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! That took way longer than I expected it would 😅 I hope it was fun!


End file.
